like you I can agree to differ. We can freely express our feelings to one another. Permit me to say to you, friend Douglass, that the new contemplated village in Florence, is a portion of Lot 16, and a portion of Lot 15, and a portion of Lot No. 2. On that lot there is a stream of water, from Mad River,²The Mad River is a small stream in Oneida County, in north central New York. It flows southeast through the small Florence Settlement and eventually into Lake Oneida. Henry J. Cookinham, History of Oneida County, New York from 1700 to the Present Time, 2 vols. (Chicago, 1912), 1:252. where we shall be able, by damming, to have good water power. I have always stated in my lectures, that Florence was a heavily timbered country, stony soil, good oats and corn, as also good grazing land. The farms joining us, cleared land, realize from twenty-five to fifty dollars per acre. The oldest inhabitants of the town say that Florence is a healthy town. They send their produce to Rome,³Rome is a small town in Oneida County just east of Peterboro and was the site of Fort Stanwix during the American Revolution. Rome lies on the Mohawk River, and construction on the Erie Canal began there in 1817. The Florence Association was located twenty-two miles from Rome. Dorothy Remington Curtis, Aid to Place Names: New York State Townships and Counties (Orange, Calif, 1950), 12; Harlow, Gerrit Smith, 10; Seltzer, Gazetteer of the World, 1599. which is a good market. I stated to the colored citizens of Utica, and throughout the different sections of the country,⁴Myers lectured on the development of the Florence Settlement at the Second Congregational Church in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, on 8 February 1849. NS, 23 February 1849. that they would have to work hard the two first years on their farm and in their lumber business. The Association was in favor of forming a village, so as to get up an enterprising spirit; and to do so, we put the price of Village lots three dollars each one quarter of an acre. The Association has forwarded to you from time to time publications containing accounts of their proceedings, which you might have published, if you had chosen. They find no fault with you. You would not suffer yourself, Sir, to be found so mean and so low as many other persons professing to be public servants of the people. The nature of F. Douglass is too noble to consent to do such dirty work. My eight years of acquaintance with you, having had the honor of being at the first convention which you attended in the city of New York,⁵Douglass first spoke before a national audience in New York City at the ninth annual meeting of the American Anti-Slavery Society, held at the Broadway Tabernacle on 10–13 May 1842. Douglass spoke three times in the course of the three-day meeting. On the second day, he addressed the crowd in support of a resolution that all legislative candidates be questioned about their position on slavery. On the morning of the third day, Douglass spoke again against slavery in general. That afternoon, he briefly addressed the crowd in support of a resolution that would allow the American Anti-Slavery Society to appropriate $2,000 to test in the Supreme Court the notion that citizens of one state should be allowed the privileges of all states. NASS, 19 May 1842; Gregory P. Lampe, Frederick Douglass: Freedom’s Voice, 1818–1845 (East Lansing, Mich., 1998), 112–13. with the noblehearted Charles L. Remond, the friend of the slave. From that period to the present I have marked your public career. Your object is not to destroy the influence of good men. I believe it to be immaterial to you whether a man has been educated in a common school, or has graduated at a college, or whether he is educated at all, provided he be honest. I would say, friend Douglass, the Association appointed you, out of respect, and appointed you, being a man of integrity as well as others⁶According to a report on a meeting written by the secretary of the Florence Association, William Griffin, and published in the 2 February 1849 issue of the North Star, the organization appointed Douglass, Samuel Ringgold Ward, Henry Hicks, Jermain Wesley Loguen, and William H. Topp to inspect the business proceedings of the settlement. Griffin did not mention Hiram R. Johnson as being a member of the committee.—namely, Samuel R. Ward, Henry Hincks,⁷Henry Hicks (1822–?), a black minister from Catskill, New York, was active in black conventions with Loguen, Myers, and Topp. 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Greene County, Catskill, 353; Foner and Walker, Black State Conventions, 1:54–78. J. W. Loquen,⁸Jermain Wesley Loguen. W. H. Topp,⁹William H. Topp (1812–57), a tailor in Albany, New York, frequently served as an officer at both state and national black conventions. He advocated political abolition, worked for black suffrage, and supported the Free Soil and Liberty parties before his death from consumption in 1857. 1850 U.S. Census, New York, Albany County, Albany, Third Ward, 107; FDP, 8 December 1857; Lib., 8 January 1858; Ripley, Black Abolitionist Papers, 4:14–15n. H. R. Johnson,¹⁰Hiram R. Johnson of Albany worked with Topp, Loguen, and Hicks for universal male suffrage, desegregated schools, and the abolition of slavery. Foner and Walker, Black State Conventions, 1:54–78. as inspectors of the public works, as disinterested persons, that you might inspect the books, and render an account to the public, of our transactions. If the Lord spares me, a week from to-day, I shall make Florence my head-quarters.

Yours truly,

S. MYERS.

PLSr: NS, 30 March 1849.